Notes:

Sermon: 4/17/22

Easter Sunday

This is the kind of Sunday that makes me want to go out and be somebody!

Super Bowl 34…(Georgia Frontiere)…

Everything the enemy does is about disassociating you from the victory of today…

You’ve won!…the enemy is all about taking it away from you! You won…

My goal today is to make you see the death and resurrection of Christ as two-fold. 

1—Our salvation—our reconciliation to Him

2—To reclaim the nations of the earth, his creation, for himself.

And to remind…that …

3—The mandate is still true…be fruitful and subdue the earth.

***

A Week Before:

The Triumphal Entry

Riding a Donkey

Symbol of Peace, Not a Horse. A sign of royalty—even viewed as such by the Babylonians

The people were aware as they shouted: 

“(#38) Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Pharisees know what this means for them…and what it means regarding the Romans…

***

Three days before…Jesus is being mocked on the cross.

“He saved others but he can’t save himself!”

 

In the spiritual realms the enemy was rejoicing because they had ended the efforts of The Most High…by killing his son. They believed they were going to hold on to their kingdoms and dominion over the world.

…Except…They didn’t realize what they had done.

1 Corinthians 2:6-8 …Paul explains this to us.

6—We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

7—No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

8—None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

6—We’re not talking Caesar, we’re talking spiritual rulers of the age…the aion…

Colossians 2:15

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

In other words, the joke was on the dark spiritual forces.

Because…

***

Luke 24:1-5

1—On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

2—They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

3—but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4—While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

5—In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

6—He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

John 11:25-26 (To Martha)

25—Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

26—and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

***

We’ve been talking about lesser gods…How God gave the nations over to these lesser god’s at Babel…he said I’m done with you (Romans 1 event but in the Old Testament)…but was keeping a portion for himself…Israel, by which the rest of the world would be redeemed.

And these lesser gods became corrupted (Psalm 82)…has evidenced by the temptation of Christ…we come to see they all fell under the dominion of the Devil who offers all kingdoms of the world to Jesus in exchange for worship.

It’s worked before, but it doesn’t work this time. Jesus is everything.

He is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham…Through Jesus all the nations of the world are blessed.

***

So we get life…and within the scripture Jesus isn’t just settling for just the Jews and Israel…he’s reclaiming all that is rightfully his…all those made in his image!

And this is the reason the Gospel must be preached.

***

Why not just do it sooner…it was obvious he was interacting with us…

It seems so weird when we talk about lesser gods interacting physically, sexually, with humans…We’ve seen the bad…now let’s look at the good.

Here are some examples in an appropriate context:

Genesis 12:7—The Lord appears to Abraham…right after Babel.

Genesis 15: 4-5 …Abe needs a kid:

And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 16:7-13—Hagar:

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.

Genesis 17:1

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,

Genesis 18:1-33

The Lord comes with two others.

Abraham recognizes him

Accepts Abraham bowing and adoration

They eat…

Sarah laughs when the Lord says he will return next year and Sarah shall have a son.

The two men (angels) go on and Abraham has his famous dialogue with God.

***

All in God’s timing.

All of these accounts of beings in human form, but they weren’t human…

If we were going to be redeemed, Jesus was going to have to come as a man and go to the cross…

Because for us to be redeemed it meant mankind’s sin was going to have to be remedied….

If we were going to have opportunity to be back in right relationship with God…then we needed a savior to take away our sins.

An angel couldn’t do it, a good person couldn’t do it, and an animal sacrifice was merely a place-holder…the sacrifice that had to be made—needed to be perfect…and human.

For us to have eternal life…the one dying in our place had to be without sin…

Jesus…

***

Magnitude–What Jesus did for us!

Attitude–Because of what Jesus did for us.

Gratitude–Because of what Jesus did for us!!!

Note to Burbank Faith & Friends: